Since we live-streamed the 2012 Makeys at World Maker Faire New York in September, we’ve received a lot of questions about the amazing special effects makeup on Matt Richardson, Gareth Branwyn, and Jeri Ellsworth, and myself. Here’s some background on the incredible crew and the amazing looks they created for us.

When we first cooked up the idea of doing something special for this year’s Makey Awards, we knew there was one woman for the job: MAKE contributor Diana Eng (fashion designer, tech wearables expert, and Project Runway alum). When I first spoke to Diana on the phone, I gave her lots of specifics about what we were looking to do (“ummm…something… awesome!”), and ever the consummate professional, she took it from there.

Says Diana, “Ever since I saw Soomi Park’s LED eyelashes, I wanted to create my own LED make-up.”

So Diana pulled in makeup artist Jessica Jade Jacob, whose specialty is special effects makeup for zombie movies. Diana explains, “We’ve long been talking about a collaboration for LED make-up in prosthetics with a fashion twist. When Gareth asked me to style the Makeys, it seemed like the perfect opportunity for me and Jessica to make our collaboration.” She continues, “We prepared most of the prosthetics ahead of time. But it’s always crazy the day of the event because the looks take a long time to achieve, so Jessica invited to Suki Tsujimoto to help style the hair.”

Adds Jessica Jade, “I had fun making them. We did a lot in a very small amount of time so it was kind of like being on an episode of 24. Only instead of dismantling a bomb we glued LEDs to people.”

Here’s a behind-the-scenes look at Diana and her crew making The Makeys happen…